06/27/2009 12:06

Arch Enemy

Arch Enemy: 'The Root of All Evil'

The big news in the Arch Enemy camp is that Andy Sneap (Megadeth, Testament, Exodus, etc.) has completed the mixing and mastering of the new Arch Enemy record, 'The Root of All Evil' . This special release features a selection of completely re-recorded songs from the first three Arch Enemy albums, 'Black Earth', 'Stigmata' and 'Burning Bridges', and will be released via Century Media Records on September 28th in Europe and October 6th in North America.

Guitarist Michael Amott comments: “This one took some time to get done, despite the fact that the actual songs were already written a good few years ago! The album was recorded at a few different locations locally here in Sweden - produced by Arch Enemy, with Daniel Erlandsson (drums) handling a lot of the engineering. It was then sent to Andy Sneap in England for the mixing/mastering and I simply can’t stop listening to this since I got the final mixes!”

In the light of Arch Enemy finding their defining line-up and a bigger worldwide recognition with 2002’s 'Wages of Sin' album, it has been a logical decision to look into updating and upgrading the earlier compositions, to be able to present them in the splendour of a 2009 shape.

Regarding further details of the process, Michael Amott adds: “We basically headed down to our rehearsal studio, got reacquainted with the tunes, picked out our favorites and proceeded to give a breath of new life to those early songs, with the idea to have the possibility to re-add them to the live set and follow up with some touring activity! I’m loving hearing these songs with a fresh new sound and performance, everyone in the band did a killer job on it - especially Angela’s vocal performance is astoundingly intense and brutal and it was also cool to hear Sharlee lay down some great bass tracks on the early songs! The production and mix is crushing and heavy as hell - it really makes these old songs shine – it sounds like a brand new thing!”.

More details on 'The Root of All Evil' will be available in the coming weeks. In the meantime, make sure to catch the band during their intense festival schedule in Europe this Summer and further worldwide activity which sees the band play previously re-scheduled dates in Mexico, appear at Japan’s massive Loud Park festival, visit countries like China, Philippines or Korea and then also do a headline run in Australia with support by Suffocation and label-mates Winds Of Plague. Here are all upcoming confirmed dates:

Arch Enemy – “Summer Tyranny 2009”:
29-June-2009 @ Rockwave Festival (Greece)
09-July-2009 @ Norway Rock Festival (Norway)
10-July-2009 @ Rockweekend Kilafors (Sweden)
11-July-2009 @ Rock Harz Open Air (Germany)
12-July-2009 @ Masters Of Rock (Czech Republic)
17-July-2009 @ Uni Rock Festival, Istanbul (Turkey)
18-July-2009 @ ProRock Festival - Kiev (Ukraine)
24-July-2009 @ Zwarte Cross Festival (The Netherlands)
25-July-2009 @ Lorca Rock Festival (Spain)
14-August-2009 @ Bloodstock Open Air (England)

Arch Enemy – Mexican Tour August 2009:
20-August-2009 Mexico City, Mexico @ Circo Volador
22-August-2009 Monterrey, Mexico @ Café Iguana

Arch Enemy – Asian Tour October 2009:
17-October-2009 @ Loud Park 09, Tokyo (Japan)
18-October-2009 @ Liberty Square - Taipei (Taiwan)
20-October-2009 @ World Trade Center - Manila (Philippines)
21-October-2009 @ Hitec Auditorium - Kowloon (Hong Kong)
23-October-2009 @ The Star Live House - Beijing (China)
25-October-2009 @ Venue TBA - Seoul (Republic Of Korea)
28-October-2009 @ Senayan Tennis Indoor Stadium - Jakarta (Indonesia)

ARCH ENEMY – Australian Tour November 2009:
01-November-2009 @ Capitol, Perth*
03-November-2009 @ Fowlers Live, Adelaide*
05-November-2009 @ The Forum, Melbourne**
06-November-2009 @ The Roundhouse, Sydney**
07-November-2009 @ The Hifi, Brisbane**
* with Suffocation / ** with Suffocation & Winds Of Plague